Yes it has been that long. In the time since updating, much has happened: I finished the Tour, vacationed in Southern France with Julie, raced bikes, hosted the track series, attended a lovely family wedding,searched and found a studio space to rent(love it!), shot photos for clients new and returning, hosted my visiting sister, and so on.

It is probably better to update more frequently, but facebook and twitter seam to fulfill of much of my blogging/updating time. I have also made drafts and never publish them, there are six in the folder.

Well, today I’m in the studio working on this and that, while enjoying the nice view of tree tops and puffy clouds, out the large historic paned windows. The light from the windows has made for excellent photos so far and is an asset to this space. The east facing orientation, brings directional light in the morning and pretty consistent light through out the day. I am very excited to be in this space, in this building.

Hot long drive through some truely beautiful country. Up early tomorrow, so the Street Team prepped the chalk for the road. I will be heading to the Chalkbot print in Lect, if I can get there, and Viry.

These past couple of days, the Tour has been rolling through the hot northern country side. The stages have not been exceptionally hard for the riders or LiveSTRONG teams, but it is still quite tiring. Today, the temperature reached 95* with barily a breeze, so working in the sun for a good part of the day then driving four or more hours, it is hard to form a sentence. My French takes a beating on these days.

A quick run down of yesterday and today and then some photo. Ok?

July 7- Up at 6:15, breakfast, on the road by 7:00 to get to the Chalkbot printing. A lovely drive and the town, Liesse-Notre-Dame, was quaint with a fantasic basilica. Shot the shots, met the Mayor, checked out the church, grabbed a snack. Then it was off to the arrival town of Riems to shoot the Street team and the finish. Riems was all torn up for a what looks street car project, tough getting around. The sprint was cool and I got a nice pic of Petacchi. shot a few more street team images then off to the hotel to down load image to the drives. Clean my and myself and then meet everyone for dinner. After dinner I walked beck to the hotel and wanted to do some work. I was tired and the wifi was as crappy as the room, the AC sound like a helicopter, so Julie and chatted for just a minute and lights out.

July 8- Up at 7:30, quick breakfast, I could not wait to get out of that hotel. Simon called and informed that the Chalkbot had in dead printed in the morning and asked if I could go and cover it. I decided to stay and shoot the riders too. the village of Salain was pretty small and had no BBQ party going. After shooting the messages, I went into the center to find lunch, a small grocery store would have to do. A proper French lunch in the park with bread, sausage, cheese, mustard, strawberries, water and a beer. A nectarine too. yumm! Walked over to the raod to see the caravan and make my way up the 3k to where I parked the car. As the last caravan car went through, I quickly went and got my tripod, tuned around went back down the hill to find an angle to shoot the riders from. I decided that the best angle was from the top of a wall just after a bend. Climbed up and got ready and waited. Break away, boom, boom. three minutes and, peloton. Boom, boom, boom. It was cool to see the cruse by , but I was kind of not really watching because I was shooting with three camera at once; hand held wide lens, tripod-mounted long lens and point and shoot running video on the mini-pod. Got the shots and ran up the hill to the car, broke down my gear and searched the gps for the hotel. over two hours away. The drive took a bit longer than that because of a detour. got to the hotel, changed rooms because the wifi did not work, sat up the work station, down-loaded, edited, uploaded photos for the Nike/LiveSTRONG peeps. We walked over to a lovely restaurant on the Loire river. walked back and here I am. Tired…

The first day at the Tour de France can a bit rough. We are all trying to find the rhythm that has yet to get started. Meeting people and getting familiar, helps to take the edge off. I’m not sure how the race teams feel, but I’m sure it is similar. Everyone got to meet the teams, sort of, as they rolled past and up to the stage. It was still hot and humid when Lance and The Shack team rolled by to a rousing reception, second only in fervor to Rabobank. It was a spectacular evening. I’m looking forward getting to know everyone better and getting into the rhythm.
Lets get rolling shall we? We all want to, but we have another day of preparation before rolling towards France. Oh, and there is also a football game first. Go Orange!
Ciao,
Huffy

I am going to miss the quiet mornings around the house, for a little while, anyway. There will be quiet mornings on the Tour, but it’s not home.
My flight is this afternoon and I will have to find quiet in the noise of the plane, so to sleep for the excellerated, new day tomorrow.
Tour de France starts with introductions on Thursday.
Back to packing.
Ciao,
Huffy

It’s just over a week till I head to the Netherlands for the start of the Tour de France 2010. The studying of France, it’s people, their language and geography as well as the Tour and it’s many details has been a bonus to the preparation for this trip. It would take a life time to learn all there is to know about France… (Last year, I would have found out about going, just eight days before I would leave for Nice and Monaco.) The other bonus to having a bit more advance notice of going to the Tour, is physical training. Last year I was pretty fit, masters bike racer fit. The legs longs and heart were good but the upper body needed some work. I got fit as the race went on, put the first few week was draining. Hours of driving the running around lugging camera gear takes a bit of core strength and so I have been hitting the gym and doing some running too.

Having the right gear is important as well as training and knowledge. I have bought more storage, a lens and a few other things, but am not sure if I need a second flash and a point-n-shoot camera. I’m pretty sure the camera is a must. I’ll see if the flash is affordable, I will need it eventually. Maybe I’ll get it. Hey, The TDF is good for our economy here too.

Now I remember that my tooth was hurting round the first of the year. Without dental insurance, or dentist, I was slow to get in the chair. About six months slow. The visit yesterday revealed an abscess in a bridge anchor tooth. the tooth and bridge could have used work or replacement, but now it is for sure. So happy we got a start on it before I leave for the Tour.
The dentist, a funny guy, said, “that could have really blown up on you”. Close!